Share This Story!

Gov. Snyder: Michigan's road funding talks at impasse

LANSING — Road funding talks are at an impasse and may be suspended indefinitely, Gov. Rick Snyder said Tuesday after meeting behind closed doors for more than an hour with the four legislative leaders from both parties.

Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Gov. Snyder: Michigan's road funding talks at impasse

Closed-door talks aimed at reaching a deal to increase road funding by $1.2 billion a year are at an impasse, Gov. Rick Snyder said Tuesday.

Road funding talks are at an impasse and may be suspended indefinitely, Gov. Rick Snyder said Tuesday after meeting behind closed doors for more than an hour with the four legislative leaders from both parties.(Photo: File photo)

LANSING — Road funding talks are at an impasse and may be suspended indefinitely, Gov. Rick Snyder said Tuesday after meeting behind closed doors for more than an hour with the four legislative leaders from both parties.

House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, told reporters after the meeting that "tax relief" is the major sticking point to reaching a $1.2-billion-a-year road-funding deal.

Snyder would not confirm that, but said: "It's fair to say people have different perspectives on what tax relief might look like."

The governor said "we made a lot of progress in prior meetings," but "we're at an impasse now."

He said there is one more meeting of "the quadrant" — comprised of the governor and the Republican and Democratic leaders from the House and Senate — tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, but it may or may not take place.

"There are no other scheduled meetings," and "unless I see progress, I'm not going to schedule more," said Snyder, in what appeared to be his sharpest departure to date from his "relentless positive action" approach. The lengthy and tortuous discussions have repeatedly failed to reach an agreement that could either be approved by both chambers of the Legislature, or, in the case of the May 5 referendum, approved by voters.

Snyder, who has been seeking about $1.2 billion a year more for roads since soon after he took office in 2011, said he still welcomes individual private discussions with legislative leaders in the hopes of continuing progress.

Cotter said agreement had been reached in a number of areas but "the biggest challenges have really been around some of the issues related to tax relief."

He would not be more specific. Both Republicans and Democrats have said personal tax relief should be part of a road funding package. Democrats have said it would help offset the cost of more expensive fuel and registration fees for lower income Michigan residents.

A grim-faced Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, was the first to depart the meeting about 45 minutes after it started. He wouldn't say anything to reporters as he left Snyder's Capitol office as the others continued to meet.

House Minority Leader Tim Greimel, D-Auburn Hills, would only say "thorny issues" remained in the way of reaching a road-funding deal.

Snyder said his principles in the talks have been an increase in the gas tax and vehicle registration fees, measures related to trucks, road construction warranties and competitive bidding, "tightening our belts in a responsible fashion," and "looking at some tax relief in some fashion."

He said "we largely found a lot of common ground" in those areas, but "there are other issues that made it difficult to come to a consensus in terms of something to move forward with."

Officials have been discussing a plan that would involve about $800 million a year in new revenue and $400 million in money redirected from the general fund. There's been concern and disagreement about whether program cuts would be needed to support the shifting of money from the state's general fund and, if so, what those cuts would be.

Cotter, who also used the word "impasse," said "we've put so much time in these talks ... at what point do you determine that something is not going to come together?"

"It's not a pessimistic view," he said. "It's not an issue of pointing fingers, but it's rather, is it going to happen or is it not?"

In May, Michigan voters overwhelmingly rejected a plan that would have hiked the sales tax from 6% to 7% and increased fuel taxes while putting close to $1.3 billion more toward roads; $200 million more for schools, and $116 million for transit while boosting the Earned Income Tax Credit for lower income working families by $260 million.

A road funding plan the House passed earlier this year included only about $100 million in new revenue, with most of the more than $1 billion in road money coming from cuts to economic development programs and the EITC, as well as from increased revenues because of economic growth.

But that plan never won approval in the state Senate.

The Senate earlier passed a $1.5-billion plan that would gradually raise fuel taxes from 15 cents per gallon for diesel and 19 cents per gallon for regular fuel to 34 cents per gallon for both. The fuel tax hike would generate about $830 million, but $350 million of that amount would be placed in a "lockbox" pending a plan to build longer-lasting roads.

The Senate plan couldn't get enough support in the House.

Both plans contain common elements, such as parity for taxes on regular and diesel fuel, tying fuel taxes to increases in inflation, increased use of warranties on road projects, and earmarking general fund money toward roads.